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August 8, 2009

Elena from Cool News contacted me for a sit down to answer a few fan questions about LOST. A chance to chat about LOST...of course I said yes! Thank you so much Elena, Cool News and the Italian LOST fans from Lost Italia Forum, for your great questions and support.

Karen Mauro answers my questions again and this time she was so nice to answer to a couple of questions, made by Italian fans from the Lost Italia Forum, too! Thanks a lot for your availability, Karen.
Thank you all for letting me share more of my LOSTNESS with you.
-Karen Mauro.

Roberto: During the last Roma Fiction Fest the authors hinted that at the end of Lost we'll have to make a “personal interpretation” of every single character, there will not be a clear end, but an end we'll have to analyze. The end of their stories will be left to more than a single vision. There will be a sort of "Lynch-end". “If” that will be true, what do you think about it?
Karen- Even though many of us put so much research into the mythology of the show I think the end will be left to our own interpretation. After all, that’s how the show has been all along. Each of us has our own perspective on what we see and experience through each character. Of course an “open to interpretation” ending makes sense to me because I feel the show has been first and foremost a metaphor. Don’t get me wrong, I do think we will get some answers, but I do not think we’ll get all the answers. I will be happy no matter what the closure of the story is and I think that’s because of my feeling passionately with the perspective and understanding of the story being about these people being “metaphorically lost” and having to find themselves, their identity.

Francesco: After the end of season five the show seems to be based on the fight between two superpowers (two higher forces). What do you think about the introduction of these two characters (Jacob and Blackman), that until now seemed so unknown but so important, at the end of the last season?

Karen- It is important. Since the very beginning the theme of two sides against each other has been dominant. With the introduction of Jacob and Mr. X, shows us that there is and always has been a struggle of two sides. Of course meeting these two opponents confirmed the “game” element of the story. At this point I still see two sides like on a chess board. Light or Dark. Dark doesn't mean it's automatically the bad side and Light doesn't automatically make it the good side. I'm being very careful about Jacob. I won't assume he's a positive force. There’s a chance he may not be what we think he is. I've always encouraged my readers to be careful; people and things are not what you think they are. We do have clues to people misrepresenting themselves so that makes me have to watch out for the “gray” area. I do think we may see another outside influence above Jacob and Mr. X.

* Thank you, Roberto and Francesco for your very interesting questions. And now I can't wait to make you some other questions, cause we're waiting for the last season of Lost and I'm so excited to know what you think about the show and the entire world around Lost.
I mean: there are a lot of Forums and Facebook groups that decided to organize the whole “rewatch” of Lost. What do you think about these initiatives? Are you organizing something like that, too?

Karen-I have not organized a re-watch myself. There are some really fantastic sites that have spearheaded that. In the process of moving all of my previously posted notes from MySpace over to my site “Karen’s LOST Notebook”, it has been a “re-watch” of sorts for me. I encourage fans to check out a few sites to get involved in the re-watch. Of course you can head over to my site for the detailed notes too. I think it’s a great idea to refresh your memory on the journey thus far.

* There's this official site now: LOST UNIVERSITY
Do you think it's the new ARG? If you had the possibility to create an ARG for Lost, how would it be like? I know... this is a complicated question, but I'm so curious to know what are the themes that you would love to explore (more than others) in Lost.

Karen- Wow! Hmmm...That’s a tough question. I wish I could create an ARG/ORG directly associated with LOST, that would be so much fun. But I have been consulted about a proposed project that could give fans of a show like LOST a more realistic experience than they’ve ever had before. As far as Lost University being a new ARG, I’m not sure yet. It’s tied in to the blu-ray DVD release, so at this point it seems more like a fun marketing venture for that and for the LU clothes we can purchase. I do hope we get a game out of it to help keep us busy until the series return.

* I think that one of the most difficult things in Lost is this: create a story-line, based on time travel, especially in the way Lost writers did it. I don't think it's a coincidence if Lindelof, Cuse, Sarnoff, Horowitz and Kitsis had this in-depth panel discussion about it at the Writers Guild Foundation that is also available in DVD: Writers on Writing DVD.
What do you think about it?

Karen- Time travel as a theme is tricky to articulate in stories and that’s the reason it seems to only be accepted in the science fiction or fantasy genre. There are no rules to time travel therefore the writer can create any laws of their vision for time travel. I watched the DVD from the Writers Guild Foundation and other than Darlton mention they were going to add a time travel element to the story, there wasn’t any further discussion on how they’re explaining “their time travel”.

* Now there's even a contest for musicians! Mock Theme Contest. I mean, we've already told this a thousand of times: Lost is not just a TV show... and I'll miss all these sort of things. I think that there's a huge team behind Lost, a team made by all the cast and crew of Lost, but also by the thousands of creative fandoms. Is it possible (in your opinion) that another show in the future will manage to create this kind of global popularity, this kind of will to share knowledge, creativity and friendship?

Karen- The reason this show has become the phenomenon it is, is because we all fell in love with characters we can relate to and the story is very intelligent. LOST seems to have brought out a very passionate side in their viewers. Whether it was due to the connection to a character or the complicated mystery, it gave viewers a reason to reach out to other fans in a way we’ve never experienced before. We’ve also witnessed an abundance of creativity flow from LOST fans. Although there will be other good shows that fans will create an online buzz and community about, I personally don’t think we’ll see anything as passionately global and grand as we see with the deep fanatical obsession and connection we share with LOST.

And now some questions about the show itself.

* One word: Locke. I remember a comment to an episode in season one (DVD). In that comment Carlton Cuse told that they “wanted” people asked themselves: is Locke good? Is he bad? To think about it, I guess that we could make the same question for all the Lost characters, but there's something so peculiar about Locke, because the same authors wanted us make this question about him in particular. Have you a your own theory about that?

Karen- When I’m asked about Locke, I feel very torn in how to answer it. The writers led us to believe in the struggles of “a John Locke” who was emotionally and physically paralyzed. He is a man who knew he was destined to be in a certain place and in a certain role but continued to take three steps forward and two steps back. Yet we’ve witnessed “Locke” behave completely different at times. There are moments we see a sure footed confident Locke who can hunt, knows his way around the island, knows things about the island, and who is not afraid of the Smoke Monster; a warrior. I’ve often wondered if we’ve seen two sides to “Locke”, or more than one “Locke” all along, or that “Locke” is one of the people whose not who/what we think he is.

* Jack still seems to be the leader. Who would you like to be the leader instead of Jack?

Karen- Jack ends up the leader pretty often, I’ll give him that. Lol. I remember a moment in season 1 when Sayid actually took the lead in organizing tasks on the island. Sayid is very good at “reading people” except for when he gets blinded by falling in love. Lol. I wonder if he would make a good leader. But I would like the leader to be more like the John Locke we saw when he assumed the role as a nurturing guide; like when he helped Charlie with his addiction. But maybe someone trustworthy… like Hurley.

* Kate is a much debated character. Lately there's this theory about a particular bond between Kate and Ben life's histories. In the Fuselage, for example, there's a topic where they made a list of coincidences in their stories and behaviors: The Fuselage Kate-Ben Topic
Do you believe they're just a pure coincidences, or do you think there could be something more? Is all this a pure case or is it scheduled and wanted by the authors in your opinion? Then why?

Karen- I do not mistake coincidence for fate. There are no coincidences in this story, how could there be? We see too many instances of not only similar behavior, problems, struggles, or traits, but also the same items, places and people show up in each other’s lives. There is a lot of “mirroring” going on, not only with those examples but with the Lostie’s needing to take a look at themselves. I believe this is all part of the plan by all involved. I know it’s a small world, but in the LOST world it’s even smaller, tiny in fact. There must be a reason for it.

* Of all the mysteries of Lost (not the mysteries that surround the characters, but the mysteries of the Island itself) what is the most important in your opinion?

Karen- I want to know more about the smoke monster. I want to know how it functions as a security system, is “it” the only shape shifter on that “island”, is it even real?

* What do you think there's in the Black Rock, if that boat at the end of season five was the Black Rock?

Karen- If the ship we saw in the finale of season 5 is the Black Rock, we know according to “John Locke” it’s a slave ship from a mining colony in Mozambique, with drilling equipment, chains and manacles/cuffs. I find it very interesting how “John Locke” knew all that information about the Black Rock.

* How old is Richard?

Karen- Richard is ageless. Maybe he’s not even real.

* How many knives have Locke?

Karen- Truthfully I think Locke has as many knives as he can imagine there to be.

* Do you think that time-jumps are caused exclusively by the turning of the frozen wheel, or could they be caused by something else, too?

Karen- The turning of the wheel is a great visual tool to get the “island” to “move”, but I feel it’s metaphoric. I think the time jumps are tied to something else. You can read about one of the many possibilities to that at my site.

Thanks a LOT Karen! This time the interview was really long and you're so nice to answer! You poor yourself in it, as ever! The things you write are always so interesting! Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!